How to Say Nothing in 500 Words

By Paul McHenry Roberts

Roberts, Paul. “How to Say Nothing in 500 Words.” Fresh Takes, edited by Deborah Israel, Wayne Stien,
and Pam Washington, McGraw Hill, 2008, pp. 195-202.

In the introduction the author began with the topic why college football should be abolished and how he
used this as example to show common pitfalls in writing. Gradually the author laid out pointers on how
to generally improve in writing from how to attack the topic to effective word choice. All it takes to start
is a fresh idea to spice up any topic that has been discussed. Delivering an idea takes more than persuading
words and it is more of illustrating the sides of the argument by presenting facts and figures. Also, taking
note of the audience determines the jargon that sets apart from poetic words. Word choice can heavily
affect what the author is directing the readers that it is important to take note of its usage. This serves as
guide when one does not know how to attack a topic. It emphasizes that good writing does not need to
be verbose.